1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to an apparatus for charging a battery of a mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a repeatedly chargeable secondary battery is used as a battery for a mobile communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as the terminal) and is removable form the terminal. The battery can be charged either when mounted on the terminal or when separated from the terminal. The terminal's battery can be charged by a general purpose power supply or a vehicle power supply through a conventional charger. Since places where the conventional charger can be coupled to the general purpose power supply or to the vehicle power supply to charge the terminal's battery are limited, a special charger is needed. Further, it is inconvenient to carry the conventional charger because its size is typically larger than that of the terminal.
Where the user is in places where the user cannot use the conventional charger or where the user does not carry the conventional charger, the terminal's battery cannot be charged. At this time, if the user does not carry a spare battery, the user cannot use the terminal after the terminal's battery has been completely discharged.
In view of this situation, a generator for generating electric power using kinetic energy generated by the user's motion or solar energy, and a charger using a primary cell, have been proposed. However, because they cannot be adapted to the terminal or have low effectiveness, they cannot be currently used.
There is technology capable of charging the terminal's battery using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) associated with a computer peripheral device connection standard. As an example, there is technology capable of charging the terminal's battery by supplying electric power outputted from a device having a USB port, such as a notebook computer, a printer, etc., to the terminal's battery through a data communication connector. As another example, there is technology capable of charging the terminal's battery through a USB cable by installing the USB port in the terminal and connecting the USB cable between the USB port of the device and the USB port of the terminal. However, there is a problem in that it is more difficult for the user to carry the device having the USB port such as the notebook computer, etc. because the device having the USB port is heavier than the conventional charger. Moreover, where the terminal's battery is charged through the USB port installed in the terminal, there is another problem in that the USB port as well as the data communication connector should be additionally installed in the terminal.